The bienniel World Team Championships will commence with round one on Sunday, July 17th. The ten teams are comprised of host China, Russia (defending champion), Ukraine, Israel Hungary (2010 Olympiad finishers), Azerbaijan, Egypt, India, USA (the continental champions) and Armenia (nomination from FIDE President). The field will prove to be very challenging and represent some of the strongest federations in the world.

This will be an interesting tournament as young talent will also be showcased. Host China will carry a very young and talented team with 17-year old Yu Yangyi (2672) and Chinese champion 18-year old Ding Liren (2654) anchoring the host nation. The Americans will trot out Robert Hess (2609), who was on the 2009 silver medal team, Egyptian duo of Ahmed Adly (2613) and Bassem Amin (2609) and Robert Hovhannisyan (2556) of Armenia who will be making his debut in the World Team event.

I agree that it is difficult to call the winner from such a field . My personal opinion is keep an eye on Russia and Ukraine . The player I am following very keenly is Karjakin ; I really hope he can build on his recent performances . Promises to be wonderful though . I need to remember to watch Dortmund as well , so many wonderful tournaments taking place internationally at the moment .

The World Team Championship got off to a rousing start with 11/20 decisive games. This is a pleasant surprise given the snooze-fest of the Candidate’s Matches where 27/30 were drawn. One of the biggest upsets was Egypt’s IM Samy Shoker, not simply beating, but beating the Ukraine’s Alexander Areshchenko in a 28-move Pirc. The game was a continuing lesson that is now becoming a common refrain… beware of African players with low ELO ratings. They can beat you!

In an anticipated USA-Russia match, it turned out to be anti-climatic when Russia rolled over the Americans with two wins. Hess was losing material in the final position and Onischuk was outplayed by Nepomniachtchi. The USA is missing top player Hikaru Nakamura who will be competing in Dortmund along with Russian absentee, Vladimir Kramnik.

Armenia dismantled Olympiad bronze-medalist Israel as Armenia’s powerful team got off to a good start with three wins. In an absolute wild affair, Sutovsky sacrificed his queen in the Grunfeld and Aronian’s white king marched all the way to f4 with black’s minor pieces assailing. When it appeared that black had some compensation, white was able to give back material and drew black’s king out in the open. Black resigned as white was poised to win more material.

In Egypt-Ukraine, Adly went into a tactical melee with Ivanchuk and soon was faced with a losing proposition of a single rook battling three minor pieces. Entertaining battle, but simply a class win by Ivanchuk. In Efimenko-Amin, it appeared that the Egyptian has good winning chances toward the end, but the game ended when white’s rook was able gain a fortress against black’s knight and two pawns. Perhaps the talk of the round was Samy Shoker’s demolition of Alexander Areschenko in 28 moves (final position above). White seemed to have a good position (missed 23.Qg7!+-), but played too mechanically and allowed black to seize initiative on queenside. Big win for the Egyptian IM, but the Ukranians prevailed (See Game).

Vugar Gashimov vs. Wang Yue (0-1)

Host China-Azerbaijan played a very interesting match trading a pair of technical wins by Wang Yue and Mamedyarov. With Mamedyarov playing board four it provide a world-class player who can most suredly compile a big score against less opposition. Time will tell if that strategy proves correct.

India- Hungary was accented by missteps. In Almasi-Sasikiran, it appeared as if white had a strong attack (better was 54.g4!), but was rebuffed and black ended up with more than enough compensation. Ganguly went down suddenly after a long series of parrying moves as a resurgent Judit Polgar was able to break through.

Nepomniachtchi initiated a blistering attack with 31.Bxa6! Polgar had to donate her queen but further losses were inevitable to avert mate.

The second round of the World Team Championship had a bit of shuffling in the standings. Russia took sole possession of the lead with their second convincing win over Hungary. Ian Nepomaniachtchi lead the Russians with his second win. This game was accented by a vicious sacrificial attack on Judit Polgar’s queenside-castled king (see diagram).

Whilst battling time pressure, Polgar had to find exact moves to avoid being mated. As Nepo’s pieces flowed into black’s camp sacrificed her queen, but her king was exposed to a battering by a knight and queen combo. See would have lost more material after 41.Qb5+ Ka7 42.Nc5. In the other decisive game, Grischuk dismantled Almasi for the margin of victory.

In one of the clearest signs that Azerbaijan clearly “outprepared” India, two miniature wins shocked Pentala Harikrishna and Surya Ganguly from their seats. Harikrishna was literally pushed off the board by Radjabov’s vicious kingside attack beginning with the sack 32.Bxh6! While Harikrishna could not accept the piece, Radjabov sacrificed the same piece again with 33.Bxg7! With the entire kingside obliterated, black’s position collapsed and the king ended up on the bad end of a mating fury.

Ganguly also fell on the sword when a well-prepared Mamedyarov got the initiative and proceeded to conjure up a winning attack without the queens on the board. With the Indians behind, Parimarjan Negi had to spurn a three-move repetition only to have to fight for a draw later. This demolition was perhaps unexpected for India who usually puts up a more valiant fight.

Wang Hao vs. Vassily Ivanchuk (1/2-1/2)

Ding Liren, the hero in the match against the Ukraine.

Speaking of vicious attacks, Ding Liren, a rising star in China (and current national champion), unfurled a beautiful attack on a hapless the Ukraine’s Alexander Areshchenko who was mated by IM Samy Shoker in round one. Perhaps the Ukrainian had not completely recovered from his missed win yesterday and appeared sluggish against Ding.

Coming out of a rather irregular King’s Indian, black fell far from equalizing as Ding was poised for a kingside attack. The attack started with 14.Ng4! and when black tried to simplify, Ding turned up the momentum with 17.Rf5! With black clearly reeling and pieces misplaced, sacrificing with 22…Rxe4 would not have helped. White finished off the attack with the coup de grâce 28.Nxh7!

Israel-Egypt saw perhaps one of the most disheartening losses of the round Egyptian Ahmed Adly appeared to be have a slight edge against Emil Sutovsky when the tables turned. It appears that 37…a5? (instead of 37…Rc8 38.Rff6 Re8 blocakade) allows white to get the central pawns rolling. Adly had to donate a whole rook for a pawn and resigned some move later.

Evgeny Postny was en guard against Samy Shoker. No upset today, but what a fierce battle it was!! (1/2-1/2)

IM Samy Shoker had another good game in a fierce battle as black against Evgeny Postny. This game saw white sacrifice a pawn for a kingside attack, but black directed the attention to the queenside as he sacrificed a piece with 21…cxd5 22. bxa5 d4 23.Bg5 b5 to open lines against an exposed king. White had a solid plus, but lost his thread after 40.Nb3? allowing 40…Rxa2 with annoying threats for black. White must’ve have realize the danger, but panicked and allowed black an advantage after 49.Rd3? Rxd3 50.Kxd3. Black then blundered back with 50…Kh4? (50…Ra3+! 51.Kd2 g3!-+) when a draw was agreed on the 52nd move of the tense battle.

Levon Aronian had trouble against Gata Kamsky in this heavyweight battle. However, the Armenians equalized.

Yasser Seirawan back at the tables for the USA.

USA-Armenia played to a draw with the heavyweight bout on board one going to Gata Kamsky against his 2800-rated opponent. The fierce battle went to a queen ending where Kamsky collected a couple of pawns and also the full point. Alex Onischuk was positionally crushed by Sergei Movesesian as the final phase of the game saw it hard to find any moves for black. Yasser Seirawan made a successful debut after retirement by holding off “Mr. Olympus” Gabriel Sargissian.

Russia had a big test against the powerful Armenian side and trotted out their best lineup. Top board featured the world’s third and fourth ranked players in an epic contest that would go 74 moves. The game started as a theoretical Slav with complications mounting almost immediately.

Karjakin essayed a pawn sacrifice for active piece play, but after his 19…Rad8, Aronian was able to quickly consolidate his position. After a jousting battle with the heavy pieces, the Armenian decided to give a pawn back in order to advance his passed pawn. Armenia was down due to Gabriel Sargissian’s loss to Peter Svidler, so Aronian was ready to go 100 moves. It was not needed. A complicated queen ending ensued (after 40…Qxf6) and with 30 moves of tenacious probing by Aronian, he ended the game deftly with in a nice zugzwang maneuver. Karjakin had to relinquish a second pawn and Aronian went on to win a textbook pawn ending.

The USA took their frustrations out on the Egyptians with a 3½-½ drubbing. Eighteen-year old Robert Hess scored his first win of the tournament beating “giant killer” Samy Shoker. Actually the game was not an easy one and Shoker had good chances after Hess sacrificed his queen for a rook and bishop with 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Rxd2 24. Rxd2. However, black apparently blundered on 34…Kc7??

After 34.c3 (threatening 35.Rd1 in diagram #1), black erred with 34…Kc7?? White continued with 35. Rxc5+ Kb8 36. Rce5 to pile back on the pawn eventually winning it (diagram #2). Black’s queen is overworked as her far-reaching powers were no match for the two optimally-positioned pieces. Unbelievable turn of events!

In other action, both Onischuk and Seirawan scored surgical wins while Gata Kamsky and Ahmed Adly drew peacefully. The win gave the USA a reasonable position as they are on an even score.

China was close to equalizing against Israel despite Ding Liren dropping his game to Tamir Nabaty. With the other games quickly drawn, Wang Hao tried to push his pawn advantage into a winning queen ending, but Sutovsky was able to harass the white king with endless checks securing the team victory.

In India-Ukraine, the gigantic battles were on the bottom boards. Negi-Efimenko had its tense moments, but despite white’s extra piece, black had compensation due to his advanced pawns. The match rode on the Moiseenko-Gopal result. In a tense battle, white developed an advantage in the rook ending, but would it be enough to win? It appeared that the match was headed for a draw, but Gopal may have erred with 79…d3? allowing the white king to go into attack mode. The king ultimately waltzed up the board to help aid the sprint of the h-pawn. Disappointing loss for the Indians.

Judit Polgar with an admiring Chinese girl before her game. This picture may be worth something one day. The archives are full of players who were shown as children with a famous Grandmaster. Photo from http://ningbo2011.fide.com/.

Hungary rode on the victory of Judit Polgar as they toppled a surging Azerbaijan. In another theoretical battle, Rauf Mamedov use the Accelerated Sicilian and Polgar decided on a very solid Maroczy Bind setup and held a space advantage. A tactical melee ensued and Mamedov may have missed Polgar’s reply after his 30…Ra5?! After 31. bxa5 Rxb3, Polgar played 32. Bc4+! Nxc4 33. axb3 Nb2 34.a6! Both sides temporarily promoted to queens, but when the smoked cleared Polgar was a clear exchange up and converted the win smoothly.

The story of the round must be Russia’s drubbing at the hands of Azerbaijan. The loss pushed Russia out of first place and tumbling to the fourth spot. Armenia remains the only undefeated team, but is only one point ahead of the field with tough matches to follow. With the win, Azerbaijan moves into joint second with China, Russia and Hungary, who triumphed on the shoulders of Peter Leko’s win over Vassily Ivanchuk.

Vugar Gashimov won in fine technical style. Azerbaijan moves up to second position after four rounds. Photo fromhttp://ningbo2011.fide.com/.

In the Russia-Azerbaijan match, each game finished relatively quick as Vugar Gashimov won a hard-fought game in 41 moves over Alexander Grischuk. Unfortunately, Peter Svidler suffered a disastrous result on the black side of a Sicilian Taimanov. White placed his pieces on unusual squares, but uncorked a tactical gem with 28.Nf5! netting an exchange. Svidler resign five moves later due to inadequate compensation. This loss sent Russia reeling, but they will play bottom-feeder Egypt on tomorrow and look to score big. Azerbaijan will play Hungary while China gets a big date with Armenia.

Hungary nipped the Ukraine as Peter Leko got the best of Ukraine’s Ivanchuk with his Marshall Gambit. In an interesting theoretical battle, black played 18…f4!? (apparently a novelty) sacrificing a piece for an accelerated attack. White ultimately had to sacrifice his queen, when he had a rook and two bishops. In perhaps an exceptional case, the three pieces were not able to contend with the queen and three pawns. In the final position, after 41…c2, 42.Rxc2 would have been met by 42…Qe4! netting a piece since 43.Rd2 loses to 43…Qf4+. The defending Olympiad Champions from the Ukraine have not looked convincing thus far.

In Israel-India, Harikrishna gave India the lead with a win of Emil Sutovsky after marching his king up the board to support a passed-pawn. All other games were hard-fought ending with everyone watching to see if Sasikiran would convert a pawn up and Gopal could hold the draw a pawn down against Nabaty. After 104 and 118 moves, both games were drawn and India got their first win.

The USA was coming off a convincing win over Egypt, but ran into a buzzsaw against host China. Alex Onsichuk has been off form and has lost three out of his four games. Against Wang Yue, he went down in a heap of flames in 29 moves against the Catalan. Shulman lost a piece and Seirawan was positionally outplayed against Li Chao and Yu Yangyi, respectively. The US will play India on tomorrow, always a tough match for them in Olympiad tournaments.

In what has become a clear sign that Egypt is simply outclassed, Armenia took a 3½-½ verdict over Egypt and its overachieving player, Samy Shoker. Shoker was the long bright spot for the Egyptians as he was winning against Gabriel Sargissian. The Armenian held the draw to save a crucial half-point. Aronian got a rest, but the Movesesian won a wild game against Adly’s Najdorf.

The game started toward clam waters with 6.g3, but then exploded with 6…e5 7. Nb3 Bg4?! 8. Be2 Bh3 9. g4 d5 10. g5. Adly deviated from Wang Hao-Li Chao’s 10…Nxe4 (played in 2007) with 10…d4?! After massive exchanges, white earned a stifling grip on the position and black’s king fell into a net in the middle of the board. While Adly’s Najdorf fell, Vladimir Akopian used it to beat off Bassem Amin’s raging attack.

Amin had aimed his heavy pieces at Akopian’s king and had played the stunning 20.Nf5! (diagram #1) The knight sortie was a thing of beauty as Akopian had to sacrifice his queen. Perhaps the Egyptian went astray with 24.Nd5 and later and 30.Qxa6 allowing black to get counterplay. Black’s rooks got active in a matter of a few moves and soon it was black with the mating attack after 30. Qxa6 Rd1+ 31. Kh2 f4! 32. Rc3 Rbb1 (diagram #2). Disappointing loss for Amin.

Hikaru Nakamura wrote me on Facebook saying that the given 20.Nf5! is not as strong as it appears and that Akopian made a “positional queen sacrifice” despite the fact that black was forced to do so. He stated that black is fine in the position after 20…exf5 21.Rh4 Qxh4 (21…f6 22.exf6 Qf7 23.Re7 Nxf6 24.Rxf7 Rxf7) 22.Qxh4. Obviously black got counterplay in the end, but perhaps Amin had stronger choices.

The last round before the rest day saw Armenia hold on to its one-point lead with a clutch win over China. Gabriel Sargissian came through with a win over Yu Yangyi in impressive positional style. Russia expectedly beat Egypt 3-1 with the consolation for the African nation being that Samy Shoker held Peter Svidler in a rather placid game while Ezat Mohammed held a draw with dogged determination. Vitiugov was trying to steal a half point more from the Egyptian when a textbook queen ending arose. The Russian did all he could to give his opponent a chance to make mistakes… to no avail. However, Russia was able to gain a half-point on Armenia in term of board points.

Hungary throttled Israel 3½-½. Judit Polgar beat Evgeny Postny after showing good technique in the ending. Leko won again and he is on a stunning result thus far. In what has become a dismal showing by the Gelfand-less Israel team, the Olympiad bronze medalists have struggled mightily. Several teams (besides Israel) are missing top players including Russia, India, the Ukraine, the USA and China.

The USA has enjoyed great team success in the past four years (with an infusion of new talent), but has struggled in this tournament. They needed a win against India by a large margin and were able to deliver. The deciding games were Onischuk’s dominant positional win over Krishnan Sasikiran and Robert Hess’ win against peer Parimarjan Negi. Hess ended the game with a nice shot 32.Qb8! when black is simply losing material. India was not close in this match and continue to struggle in team play.

The Ukraine scored a must-win against Azerbaijan as the heavyweights continue to beat each other. Moiseenko was able to win a textbook rook ending to seal the victory. The Ukrainians still have to play Armenia and Russia, but the fate is in their hands and perhaps the rest day will allow them to regroup.

In round six of the 2011 World Team Championship, it was a festive beginning as GM Judit Polgar celebrated her birthday among the officials, competitors and guests. There was a beautiful cake and the event may have put the players in a good mood. However, the battle had to begin!

Armenia had a date with India as they were looking to hold on to the slim one-point lead. Lev Aronian faced Pentala Harikrishna and essayed a bold attack by 11.g4. Perhaps this caught the Indian off guard, but he fought back in the center causing a clash of forces. When the smoke cleared, Aronian had obtained a grip on the position and began tightening the screws. At one point, it was hard to find useful moves for black. This was the decisive game as the others were drawn.

Russians and the Ukrainians drew all four games, but they were hard-fought battles. Israel-Azerbaijan was also drawn one win apiece. Radjabov was up the exchange when Sutovsky allowed him to set up a mating net. Gashimov-Smirin went to king vs. king in a very exciting Sicilian Paulsen. Evgeny Postny beat back an attack by Rauf Mamedov to conjure up one of his own for the victory.

The USA and Hungary was the last of the drawn matches and featured a “spoiler” with Yasser Seirawan beating Judit Polgar on her birthday. The two have know each other for many, many years and Polgar was certainly a good sport about it. Judit is only 35 years old which gives an idea about how long she’s been playing at the top level. She is far and away the greatest woman in the history of chess without peer.

Finally, Egypt was crushed by China to give the host country good chances with three rounds remaining. Wang Hao scored an impressive win over Ahmed Adly when the Egyptians position had too many weaknesses and Wang ended the game with a mating attack. Bassem Amin sacrificed a piece for two passed pawns aided by a “dragoned” bishop. The b-pawn did eventually promote to a queen, but white had a passed pawn of his own and in the end it would be the deciding factor.

IM Samy Shoker is on an even score which is remarkable, not only because he is one of only two IMs in the field, but because his team has fared poorly and morale may be an issue. Shoker has shown an interesting style this tournament with a mixture of positional play and tactics. His positional queen sacrifice against Li Chao was an interesting idea, but perhaps black could have improved on his play. White actually had good play with his two pieces for a queen. This certainly was not a “mercy draw” as the game was extremely tense. Good result for Shoker as he may be competing for a GM norm.

Armenia won their fourth consecutive match thereby putting them within reach of the gold medal. They only need two points in their last two matches against Azerbaijan and the Ukraine to stake this claim. They nipped Hungary in their encounter when Zoltan Almasi bungled a strong initiative by dropping the exchange. The other games were drawn. Sargissian-Balogh was a brawl.

In China-Russia, Wang Hao scored an important victory in a see-saw game whose outcome was in doubt until Wang took command toward the end. Svidler was unable to convert an advantage against Yu Yangyi. The victory moves China up to second position with two rounds to go. They play regional nemesis India in round eight.

India got their second win of the tournament over hapless Egypt win by a narrow margin. Egypt’s Ahmed Adly has had a rough tournament (½/6) and took a rest. Harikrishna converted a long ending against Bassem Amin who is looking to break his losing streak, now at five. El-Gindy and Sasikiran drew a game that stood level throughout. Samy Shoker had his unbeaten string against Grandmasters stopped at three when his Pirc Defense failed to Ganguly. Mohammed Ezat got the win over G.N. Gopal, who has struggled in Ningbo.

The USA bested Azerbaijan after Mamedyarov played a dubious opening against Seirawan and was royally spanked for his lack of opening composure. The game started 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5?! 3. e4!? fxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. g4! as white quickly seized space, exploited weak squares and got a favorable ending. The Azeri sacrificed two pawns in hopes that his passed a-pawn would save him, but Seirawan stifled these plans and went on to a clean victory. By beating both Polgar and Mamedyarov, Seirawan has proved that he can still play at a high level.

Ukraine-Israel was an interesting encounter as Ivanchuk-Sutovsky play a very entertaining game in which spell-binding complications occurred. The Israeli may have gotten a bit overzealous with his attack and Ivanchuk was able to stave him off and collect the point after Sutovsky’s king dangled in the line of attack from heavy pieces. In other games, Roiz won against Eljanov where the Ukraine got the decider when Moiseenko exploited Postny’s open king in a game rich with nimble piece play. Nabty and Areschenko drew a Rossolimo.

In a happy mood, Seirawan sat down with his coaches and fellow team member Hess to go over the game. On move two, Seirawan said, “I already feel like something went wrong for Shak”, as Mamedyarov is known. Peter Leko even commented, “This is the way to show them when they show no respect”, referring to Mamedyarov’s dubious opening decision.

Israel’s 4-nil lost to Russia is shocking. They are clearly the worst team in the tournament in terms of expectations. Egypt has not won a single match, but have not been whitewashed and continue to fight… creating a few upsets. Israel seems to give up in their matches. The Vitiugov-Nabaty game was a complete disaster.

Russia crushes Israel 4-nil, still in contention… Armenia, China, Ukraine all win to hold positions… Hungary beats the USA and also has a miniscule chance for a medal

Ian Nepomniachtchi has been the star for Russia. Can they win big over India? Photo by Fred Lucas, http://www.fredlucas.eu/.

The World Team championship had its penultimate round today and the most shocking of the results was Russia’s whitewash of Israel, 4-nil. Despite Boris Gelfand’s and Maxim Rodshtein’s absence, Israel was expected to put up a more respectable showing. They are the first team in the tournament to lose by 4-nil and the Olympiad bronze medalists have been listless in their play. The games were relatively competitive, but Nabaty-Vitiugov was a complete disaster. There is nothing more to say about the match.

The battle for medal tightened as Armenia had to fight Azerbaijan to a draw while the other top contenders won their matches. Armenia was behind in the match after Shahkriyar Mamedyarov beat Gabriel Sargissian in a heart-pumping battle ending in a frantic pawn race. The Armenian’s desperate dash for queendom was negated by white own’s queening and the Azeri had the overwhelming material advantage. However, the match was leveled by Akopian’s clutch win and the match was drawn. This gives Armenia at least a bronze medal and needing only a draw to secure the gold medal.

Yu Yangyi being encouraged by Li Chao. Cameraderie is one of the recipes of traditional success for China. Many of these players evolved as schoolkids together. Photo by Wang Liang, http://sports.sina.com.cn/chess/.

China kept pace by humbling their Asian counterpart and regional rival India in a match that featured a nice king hunt by Wang Hao starting with 48.Rxg7+ (see below). In Krishnan Sasikiran-Wang Yue, black back white’s kingside ambitions and launched a lightening counterattack. With the white king on the run, the game ended with a nice tactical coup, 47…Rxe3! winning on the spot. While Negi-Ding was drawn, Li Chao tried to steal another half-point by trying to win rook and bishop verus bishop. Ganguly defended and the match ended in a 3-1 verdict.

In Wang Hao-Harikrishna, white smoked the black king from its refuge on g6 with 48.Rxg7+ (diagram #1) and at sword point marched the monarch up the board until it met its death on f2 after white’s 59.Rc3-c1! (diagram #2) White threatens 60.Bd4# and only massive material losses avert mate.

The Ukraine kept pace with a win over a hopeful USA. Robert Hess lost a crucial game against a resurgent Areshchenko won started the tournament poorly. The Ukraine remains in third, but have a poor tiebreak status with 17.5 board points. Russia on the other hand beat Israel 4-0 and now have 19.5 board points and play an out-of-form India in the finale.

Thus if the Ukraine draws with Armenia, then Russia could surpass the Ukraine with a win over India (even by 2½-1½). The Ukraine will then be forced to play for a match win to prevent being pushed from medal contention by Russia. Hungary probably has no chance for a medal unless they beat China handily and the Ukraine also loses. China-Hungary match will be hotly-contested.

Hungary beat Egypt with Almasi and Polgar winning in a romp. Shoker collapsed in a battered heap after blundering against Polgar. Egypt scored two draws and have yet to be whitewashed despite being outrated by a 100 points in every match. They have shown resilience, especially on the lower boards. However, Ahmed Adly is off-form and took a rest for the second day in a row. This tournament has been largely disastrous for the Adly-Amin duo. They end on a date with Azerbaijan hoping to win a few moral victories.

Armenia has clinched at least a bronze (even with a loss). Here are some of the other scenarios playing out:

If Armenia-Ukraine is a draw (probable) then Armenia gets gold and Russia can get bronze (over Ukraine) with the smallest of victories over India because of board points. Hungary has to hope that they beat China and the Ukraine loses to have a chance at a bronze.

China winning over Hungary could get them at least a silver, but even a gold if Armenia loses (1. China, 2. Armenia, 3. Ukraine). Armenia-Ukraine drawing, China-Hungary drawing, then Russia must win at least 3-1 to have a chance at a silver (1. Armenia 2.Russia 3. China). Russia lost to China in their match, so they have to get 22.5 points if China draws (22.0 points).

If Armenia LOSES by 3-1 (or worse) to the Ukraine and China draws, then Ukraine would get the gold, Armenia silver and China/Russia bronze. Russia would have to win by at least 3-1 in this scenario for a bronze (same reason as above).

The 2011 World Team Championship has come to a close and Armenia has won the title in convincing manner. The only undefeated team in the tournament, the two-time Olympiad gold medalists were led solid performances by Sergei Movesesian and Vladimir Akopian both scoring 6/9. Levon Aronian also had a strong showing with 5/8 and 2826 performance rating. Their last match with the Ukraine took an interesting turn as Russia begin losing their match to India.

Russia fell behind quickly as Peter Svidler was utterly destroyed by Surya Ganguly in 24 moves. Vitiugov-Negi was drawn after the Russia forced a three-fold repetition a pawn down. Russia then tied after Grischuk beat Harikrishna on board one. With this scenario, medal chances were fading for Russia, but if Nepomniachtchi could beat Sasikiran, then it may come down to board points. A draw would not suffice. Armenia-Ukraine had already drawn their match. It was not to be.

“Sasi” played Najdorf and got a very solid position and was never in danger of losing. Nepomniachtchi’s desperate “cheapshots” were parried as black 44…Bc6! liquidated into a favorable ending with white’s king exposed. What was clear at this point was that Russia’s medal chances were dashed an the Russia was merely trying to salvage his personal honor. However, Sasikiran won the queen ending in smooth fashion and Russia’s “big ELO” team failed once again.

Wang Yue was China’s top scorer with 7/9 and 2916 performance.

China went into this match against Hungary knowing that a draw would most likely give them a medal. However, they trotted out their most reliable lineup and in the end, got the maximum result. Both Wangs (Wang Hao and Wang Yue) had spectacular tournaments. Wang Hao scored 6/9 with 2854 performance while Wang Yue scored 7/9 with a stratospheric 2916 performance!! Li Chao’s undefeated 5/8 and 2743 performance was also remarkable. The Chinese gave two rising stars Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren valuable experience while stronger players were playing abroad. China has a strong foundation for the future.

Egypt won nary a match ending on 0/9, but got a wonderful consolation when IM Samy Shoker (2475) beat an erratic Shahkriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan earning a GM norm with 4/9 against nine GMs (2675 average opposition; 2632 performance). He start off the tournament by shocking Areshchenko of the Ukraine and ending by beating an elite Grandmaster. This must be a breakthrough for the young IM who has gone unnoticed, even in African tournaments. Shoker along with Mohammed Ezat gained valuable experience and played top-level competition for nine rounds, a rare opportunity for African players.

Israel ended a dismal tournament dropping their last match to the USA. In what will go down as their poorest performance in many years, they simply seemed like a rudderless team without a couple of key players including Boris Gelfand. Robert Hess scored a crushing win to score the decisive result. Sacrificing a piece with 28.dxe6! lead the way into black’s camp. The Yale-bound GM shredded a path toward the black king and in a hopeless position, black resigned.

The USA finished below their 2009 silver medal, but without their top gun Hikaru Nakamura, they would have been very fortunate to get a medal. The field was much stronger than in 2009. Despite finished ahead of Egypt, Israel’s result may be considered the most disappointing of the tournament. They did beat China, yet suffered the only whitewash of the tournament.

I check FIDE’s Handbook on title regulations and Shoker’s field for nine round (seven must be rated). For his field (2643-2679) he needed 4/9. A draw would not have done it because his average opposition would have needed to average 2680 and not 2675. I have not gotten official word yet from the tournament on the norm, but it looks like one!

Russia’s failure must make the idea of “Russian dominance” a thing of the past. Kasparov recently wrote an essay in New in Chess saying that there is still life in the tradition. That may be true if he considers Armenia and the Ukraine, but Russia? Not so. They had the highest average ELO in all the team events since they won gold in Bled in 2002 and gold at 2009 World Team in Turkey, but they certainly are not dominating as in days of old. They had FIVE teams in the 2010 Olympiad and did not take the gold. Something is in disarray with Russian chess as echoed by Kramnik after the 2008 Olympiad. The schism during the FIDE election brought some of this turmoil to light.

Congrats to Armenia. I thought both India and Israel would do better and that Egypt would make some kind of noise. Not this trip.

Glad to see Seirawan of USA represent!

LOL @ #5 Hungary. Polgar and Leko are stereotypical of their styles. Polgar the relentless attacker comes away with a +5.0 by way of 4 outright wins, 3 outright losses and only 2 draws. Impregnable defender Leko comes away with a +5.0 with only 1 outright win, no losses and 8 draws!!!

Actually that would read as a “+1” for both if you are using the parlance used for tournament records. It just means that your score (divided into two parts) is on the positive side… win/loss difference. Polgar (+4-3=2) is equal to 5-4 or +1. Leko (+1-0=8) is also 5-4 or +1. Wang Yue (+5-0=4) is 7-2 or +5.

Polgar was a bit erratic in the second half of the tournament. Leko’s drawing tendency is not particularly bad for board #1, but of course Almasi did not have a good result on board #2. Balogh was fantastic on board #4.

India seems to struggle in team play. Their match strategy, lineup choices and preparation seems to be substandard. Israel was missing Gelfand and Rodshtein, two of their top players. Most other teams were only missing one top player. However their performance was abysmal. Egypt’s reserves actually did them proud. Shoker got a GM norm and Ezat got a chance to play and beat strong competition. Adly (½/7) and Amin (1½/9) were simply outclassed. They were outrated by 100 points each round.